Reducing emotional conflict during the organ donor process.

Abstract

It is widely recognized that nurses support and play a paramount role in the organ donor process. Nurses are faced with conflict as they deal with a grieving family while at the same time providing aggressive medical treatment to a clinically dead patient. Nurses' attitudes regarding the organ donor process will affect the process and families either positively or negatively. The organ donor coordinator in our hospital and the transplant community support the nurse, who in turn supports the family before, during and after the process. The family needs, emotional conflict and difficult decisions will be identified as perceived by a critical care nurse who was a member of an organ donor family.